The Vital Force Archive

Janet Oussaty recounts her 1999 accreditation at the Carmel Retreat Center with Ed Altman, how a Japanese friend's talk of ki led her to TCC, and teaching the practice at her university.

Donna McElhose collected thank-you letters her Illinois students wrote to Justin Stone, describing asthma-friendly movement, circle meditation, a Folsom Prison video, and the struggle to practice alone at home.

Lisa Otero recalls meeting Justin Stone through her aunt Carmen Brocklehurst, her initial disappointment that he seemed a conventional businessman, and the lessons on death and attachment absorbed over pancake house dinners.

Sharon Sirkus collects four moments of classroom comedy, from an over-achieving teacher candidate over-rotating her waist to a student whose cracking joints sounded like clicking castanets.

Senior teacher Nancy Werner-Azarski of Minneapolis recounts seeing Justin's face when she sat to meditate before practice, his silent standing answer at an Albuquerque conference, and how hip pain led her to two long-avoided projects.

Laurie Jacobi led a class devoted entirely to Rocking Motion and foot awareness, then shares student Patricia Blakely's email describing how the stone-like neuropathy pain in her right foot vanished by class end.

Wilma Kuhns took up T'ai Chi Chih to protect her balance, then during her second class the last joints of her right fingers clicked into place, letting her close a painless fist.

Justin Stone argues that accepting death, baldness, and the unchangeable ends their power over us, drawing on Lao Tzu's losing a little each day, Chuang Tzu's Fasting Mind, and Hakuin's enlightenment.

Margery Erickson recalls hiding behind a tree at her first outdoor class, hosting her accreditation in her home weaving studio, and Justin shaking his head at her Daughter in the Valley.

Carolyn Pogwist describes her post-accreditation difficulty putting T'ai Chi Chih into words, and how one-on-one work with a breast cancer survivor in radiation treatment taught her to teach beginners.

Dorene Krause collects the AHA! discoveries her students report, from feeling energy between the palms to finding the foot's place, alongside the AAH... moments of effortless flow, grounding and calm.

Aphorisms from Justin Stone's out-of-print 20th Century Psalms on impermanence, egotism and compassion, including the lecture he opened by telling the audience "You're all dying!" and his question to a millionaire about doing good.

Nancy Jo Bleier recounts her 1997 accreditation in Albuquerque under Ed Altman with Justin visiting daily, teaching seated sessions to stroke and mental health patients, and starting monthly Practice by the Sea in Sitka.

Lisa Stroyan draws on Justin's three confirming signs, the Nei Kung and an email exchange with Lynne Roberts to offer practical ways to develop TCC mentally, from breath counting to feeling weight shift through the soles.

Debby McLister recounts teaching Bass Drum in her first beginner class, where a fist-and-release hand exercise worked until week two, so she brought 12-inch balloons to keep hands cupped and apart.

Carmen L. Brocklehurst argues that T'ai Chi Chih movements never change, only our perception of them, and that teachers must admit mistaken understanding, citing Hakuin and Justin Stone's chapter "The Growth of Certainty."

Kay Rydeen describes "set induction," the teaching trick of opening a class with a prop or placard, from a French professor's bulging pockets to dimes taped on a cardboard foot outline.

Debby McLister describes how years of T'ai Chi Chih have intensified nature's colors, from magenta azaleas and Kousa dogwood to bluebirds and goldfinches seen while practicing on her deck.

Hannah Hedrick works through the principles she took from the four teacher trainers' presentations at the international conference, from pressing dimes into the floor to using wrists rather than arms in Working the Pulley.

Sandy McAlister recounts the second Saturday teacher Zoom gatherings, including September's discussion of TCC polarity and which movements have it, October's swap of class handouts, and tips on Cosmic Consciousness Pose.

Lisa Stroyan's poem, sparked by Lorraine Lepine's practice and Ann Rutherford's conference reference to kelp, names sensations of soft arms, uncurling fingers and resting on the energy sea.

Daniel Pienciak explains why he teaches Bass Drum before Around the Platter and Pulling in the Energy, breaking each into hand circle, weight shift, then both, with eyes forward for balance.

Johnnie Marquez came to T'ai Chi Chih for balance after stumbling off a stationary bike, resisted his teacher's repeated suggestion to seek accreditation, and describes how Zoom practice, an Intensive and pyramid poetry changed his mind.

Pam Towne teaches Justin Stone's joy song from Meditation for Healing, with its faster weight shift, swinging arms and one syllable per shift, and suggests adapting it for students' balance.

Johnnie Marquez traces the stages of a student's journey from quickly learned movements to the growing intimacy with the feet, total weight shift and moments when the practice seems to do itself.